SACRAMENTO — In a game that featured a 40-minute rain delay and a pair of pitching staffs that refused to budge for most of the night, host Sacramento State and visiting Tarleton State went toe-to-toe over 14 innings on Friday until the Texans were finally able to break through with the go-ahead run en route to a 4-3 Western Athletic Conference win over the Hornets at John Smith Field.
The defeat was only the third in the last 11 games for Sacramento State, which fell to 21-22 overall and 9-10 in conference play. Tarleton State improved to 23-19 overall and 13-9 in league play.
Friday's 14-inning contest is tied for the sixth-longest game in school history according to available records and the longest since the Hornets and New Mexico State went 15 innings on May 26, 2018.
In terms of time, the four-hour, 12-minute marathon finished just outside the top 10 and was the longest since Sacramento State and San Jose State went 11 innings and played 4:19 on May 19, 2022. The contest was the longest of the year by a minute, surpassing the 11-inning game against Loyola Marymount on Feb. 16 that took four hours and 11 minutes to complete.
Friday night's marathon also included a new single-season school record as junior Matt Masciangelo was hit by a pitch for the 20th time this season, breaking the four-way tie with Dan Vetter (1995), Carlos Morales (2000), and Buddy Morales (2006). After entering the week ranked No. 6 in the NCAA in the category, Masciangelo now stands seven HBPs shy of the school's career top 10.
Senior right-hander Evan Gibbons was solid in recording his fifth straight "quality start," allowing just two earned runs over 6.1 innings of work, scattering just four hits and striking out seven. The Sacramento State bullpen then took over and shut down Tarleton State over the next 6.1 shutout innings as Max Pettey (1.2 innings), Kade Brown (2.0 innings before the game was halted due to the rain in the 11th), and Xavier Richards (2.2 innings), combined to allow just one hit and struck out eight.
Cooper Rons (4-3) the finished the night, but suffered the loss, charged with the go-ahead run on one hit and striking out one over the final 1.1 innings.
Tarleton State was the first on the board with a home run by Cris Enriquez to lead off the second inning, but the Hornets answered quickly in the home half as Jorge Bojorquez drove home Cesar Valero with a one-out single and he moved all the way to third on a Jaxon Byrd single to put runners at the corners. Jacob Cortez then plated the go-ahead run with a ground ball to short, scoring Bojorquez for the 2-1 advantage.
The Texans added single runs in the sixth and seventh to regain the lead, but it was Byrd that came up clutch after the stretch, launching his second home run of the season over the wall in right to tie the game at three apiece.
Both teams had their chances to break the tie, finishing the night with a combined 23 runners left on base and matching zeroes over the next six innings. Sacramento State had runners in scoring position in the ninth, 10th, and 12th innings, while the Texans stranded seven — four of those in scoring position — until striking for the eventual winning run in the 14th.
Ike Shirey led-off the inning with a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch and was there with two outs when Enriquez came up clutch with a single to right field for the 4-3 advantage. Tarleton nearly added another with runners on the corners, sending the runner from first to draw a throw, but a heads-up play by Cameron Sewell prevented the score, throwing a strike to the plate where Cortez applied the tag to end the inning.
The Hornets, however, could not answer in the home half of the 14th as Braydon Risley (2-4) set the side down in order to end the game.
Byrd finished 2-for-3 to lead the Sacramento State bats, posting his fourth multi-hit in his last five games to go along with five runs scored, five RBI, and four extra-base hits in that span. Five other Hornets finished with single hits on the night.
Game two of the series is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday (April 27) afternoon.
